Page 83

“I was not crying,” Eli started, but he cut himself off when he caught Zanetti’s teasing smile. Huffing out a breath that clouded in front of him, Eli sprinted ahead, forcing the oldest guy on the team to keep up.

“Okay, okay.” Laughing, Zanetti drew him to a walk. “I’m sorry I teased you. Seriously, though. Things are good between you?”

“Yeah,” Eli said as they turned around and began the walk home. “I think so. How do you know when you should have the relationship talk?”

“That’s probably different for every relationship.”

“True. I just want to know if we’re exclusive.”

“If you ask me, the are-we-exclusive talk and the relationship talk are two different things. Exclusivity is more about health and safety, right? If he’s sleeping with multiple people, you’ll want to know and vice versa. The relationship talk involves big, scary feelings.”

“So does the exclusivity talk,” Eli argued as they waited for a car to pass at a stop sign. “Even if we don’t have the relationship talk yet, I’d be hurt if he was sleeping with other people.”

Not that Eli thought Nolan was, but it’d be nice to confirm it.

“Fair enough,” Zanetti said. “If that’s the case, you might want to have that talk soon.”

Eli was too embarrassed to tell him that he’d brought it up last night in a drunken haze, so he just nodded his agreement. “Maybe I’ll do that when I get home.”

“Face-to-face is usually better for these things.”

“That’s what I mean.” At Zanetti’s questioning look, Eli added, “He’s in my bed.”

Couch, technically, but semantics.

“Eli.” Zanetti stopped walking and planted both hands on his hips. “Did you leave Nolan in your bed to come jogging with me?”

“Um, yes? Though now that you said it like that, it seems like a really stupid decision on my part.”

“Christ,” Zanetti said, shaking his head. “The irony.”

“What? What irony?”

“Never mind.”

“Uh, excuse me.” Eli pulled him to a stop when he started walking again. “You can’t just say something like that and not explain. Spill.”

Zanetti shook his head again, a smile playing on his lips. “Last year, I left Bennett’s bed to go jogging with Roman and Kas,” he said, naming a former Trailblazer who’d retired a few years ago. “And they gave me hell for it.”

“Are you going to give me hell?”

“Do you want me to?”

“No. I’d rather go back home to Nolan.”

Zanetti nodded. “Good choice.”

“What if he’s not there?” Eli asked, his gut twisting at the thought. “What if he went home?”

“He’ll be there.”

Zanetti sounded so sure that Eli couldn’t not believe him.

Nolan’s car was still in Eli’s driveway when they returned, and Zanetti tossed him an I-told-you-so look before Eli went inside.

And there was Nolan, leaning back against the counter as he enjoyed a cup of coffee. In the open-plan space, Eli had a direct sightline to him from the front door.

“Hi,” he said breathlessly, more winded from looking at Nolan than he had been on his jog.